[shovel]

You make decent points, I just cannot put any faith that joe public will voluntarily change their driving habits for any reason other than plain old money, and I don't see converting existing vehicles to operate on biodiesel as economically possible.

So if, from my point of view, the majority of the public just simply won't change their habits and won't spend the four digits necessary to put a whole new engine into their car so it can run diesel... that leaves making available a direct gasoline replacement the only realistic option that doesn't involve scrapping all the equipment presently in service. Current fuel conversion kits such as those from Full Flex are under $500 and that's at niche pricing, a grander scale system akin to the digital TV conversion box program could bring them way way closer to affordable for everyone. Am I wrong here? Is there some property of human nature of which I am not aware that will cause a meaningful % of the general public to voluntarily start hypermiling - other than making gasoline cost $17/gallon? I see a lot more poorly maintained cars running around with half-deflated tires, and flawlessly shiny (as in never actually used in accordance with their mechanical capabilities) monster v8 4x4's than I see ecomodded cars...

The debate of whether or not ethanol can be produced in a manner that is profitable and affordable and net energy positive seems to be very polarized and I am on the "yes" pole, as are all of the companies and individuals putting good money into ethanol production and vehicle compatibility. I don't suppose THAT will be resolved any time soon - particularly if we (people in general) continue to fight about it instead of giving it a shot.

As for the idea of everyone getting a smaller car... again I don't see this voluntarily happening but worse still, what do we do with all the working cars that people abandon? What is the environmental impact of making a whole new car when the old one still works or is within a few cheap parts of working? Solutions that involve wasting existing, functional, and already in their theatre of operation equipment don't strike me as smart at all. Throwing away a working car, building a new one, and shipping it to wherever you're going to be using it is probably worse for the environment than all the fuel the older car was ever going to use in its lifetime.